Energy Saving and Energy Generating
Typical household carbon footprint
The typical carbon footprint from a household in the UK comprises: 28% transport; 26% stuff you buy; 17% home heating; 15% home energy use; 14% food
For every kilogram of carbon emissions you save, you will save yourself 15 - 20 pence.
Easy energy saving tips
There are many ways to save energy. Below we set out a handful of easy things for each household to do. Please let us know your tips and any other actions.
Home heating
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Turn thermostat down by 1 degree (£80 per year for 250kg per household)
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Set your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them
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Heat only the areas of your home that need heating
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Set the temperature for each area of your home
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Draught proof doors and windows (saving £20 per year or 63kg per household)
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Draw curtains at night; insulate roof, walls and water tank; radiator reflecting panels.
Home energy use
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Replace all bulbs with LEDs (£35 per year or 80kg per household)
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Items left on standby can use up to 85% of the energy they would use if fully switched on. Turn them off at the wall (£30 per household or 480,000 tonnes for whole UK)
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Tumble dryers use a huge amount of energy. If it’s a nice day dry your clothes outside or even inside if it’s not so nice (as much as £288 per year or 900 kg per household per year)
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Only use full loads in washing machines; Switching from a 40 degree wash to 30 degree saved 38% of energy and 20 degree washes save 62% compared to 40 degrees. If everyone in the UK switched to 30 degree washes that would be the same as taking 400,000 cars off the road each year
Useful links
Energy saving tips
https://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/home-energy-efficiency/energy-saving-quick-wins
https://climatecare.org/50-ideas-shrinking-carbon-footprint/
https://www.carboncalculator.co.uk/reductions_home.php
http://www.nef.org.uk/knowledge-hub-landing#energy-in-the-home
Energy consumption for various household appliances
https://www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html
Calculating your carbon footprint
Your carbon footprint is a way of showing your carbon emissions, compared to other people. Your carbon footprint is your impression on the planet.
You can calculate your yearly household carbon footprint very easily using a carbon calculator. Our favourite and one of the simplest calculators to use is found on the World Wildlife Fund website here (1):
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
The calculator takes your answers to the questions and converts all the different greenhouse gases into an equivalent impact from carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Your footprint value is in “tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent”.
A couple of the villagers have already calculated their yearly emissions. The figures show a range between 19 tonnes to 36 tonnes. Ideally we would like each household to calculate their own yearly carbon footprint so we can aggregate the number for the whole village. Do email nwbucks@gmail.com if you do calculate your footprint (we will keep it private and not name names).
[1] The carbon footprint calculator was created with the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York and the University of Leeds.
Alternative energy providers
Purchasing green energy is another way to reduce carbon footprint. In the UK the typical saving from switching to greener providers is on average 1420 kg per household.
We know that some Nether Winchendon households already use alternative renewable energy sources such as ground-source heat pumps or solar. Other villagers have made the switch to greener energy providers who source from renewables rather than oil.
The group would like to share more information on the options including costs of installation and grants that might be available from the government. We will post information once we have gathered it.
